Savatage-Gutter Ballet (1989)

This formidable American band had a rather shaky start commercially, despite releasing a series of very interesting albums focused on progressive heavy metal. Founded by brothers Jon and Chris Oliva in the late seventies, they had to wait ten years for their immense talent to be recognized, thanks to their fourth album, "Hall of the Mountain King", and its successor, "Gutter Ballet", where the progressive influences and effective arrangements were more than evident. In this new release, the band ventures further into more complex and elaborate sounds, with a repertoire full of progressive structures while still maintaining their characteristic and glorious heavy metal. "Gutter Ballet" boasts an arsenal of heroic compositions, such as the formidable title track, the brilliant "When the Crowd Are Gone", the dynamic and dazzling "Of Rage of War", and the desolate "Hounds". Despite its enormous potential and very favorable reviews, the album would not commercially surpass their previous work in the charts, although it would open the door to hundreds of thousands of progressive metal fans around the world and in the process they became one of the most appreciated cult bands of the eighties.